368 workers of Carpeting Jute Mills lose job

The authorities of state-owned Carpeting Jute Mills at Noapara, Jessore have laid off 368 of its workers.
The retrenched workers were verbally informed about the lay off Wednesday morning. But they are yet to receive arrear wages of 18 weeks and an Eid bonus.
A large number of law enforcers were deployed at the mill to prevent any untoward incidents following retrenchment of the workers.
The workers termed the lay off "inhumane" and demanded reinstatement to their jobs with full payment of their arrear wages and Eid bonus.
Project Director of the mill Lashkar Ruhul Amin said it was the decision of the government to run the mill with 50 percent workforce and they were laying off according to the government's reform measures.
The mill has 510 permanent workers. It requires 1.50 lakh bundles of raw jute to reach the production target of eight tonnes a year. The mill currently has 300 quintals of raw jute. Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) recently allocated Tk 46 lakh for the mill to purchase raw materials.
The mill is now burdened with Tk 24 crore bank loan and it is yet to pay Tk 9 lakh of outstanding electricity bills, the project director said.
Around 468 retrenched workers of the closed Peoples Jute Mills were paid over Tk 1 crore yesterday in arrear financial benefits, excluding payment of provident funds and gratuities. Payment of gratuities is to begin from August 26 but the BJMC authorities are yet to decide when they would start paying provident funds, said convenor of Khulna regional committee of Patkal Sangram Parishad (PSP).
Non-payment of provident funds will create another problem for BJMC authorities as workers of the mill are determined not to leave the mill colony without getting all their dues, said Publicity Secretary of PSP Abdur Rahman.